Winger Guy Wood was the toast of Gladstone after they scored an upset 27-22 win over Pioneer in their Wairarapa-Bush Tui Cup premier division rugby match at Gladstone on Saturday.
Wood, an Englishman who joined up with Gladstone at the beginning of this season, scored all his team's points with two tries, one conversion and five penalty goals. And in addition to that, he made a big impact in general play.
He made several stirring runs down his flank, often leaving would-be defenders in his wake through a mix of clever footwork and rapid acceleration, and was also top value on cover defence.
This was an important victory for Gladstone as it kept them well in the hunt to retain the Tui Cup they won last year, while for Pioneer it ended a long unbeaten sequence, which included them taking out the Kapene Cup as first round winners.
Even if both sides struggled at times through basic handling and passing errors and poor option-taking, the match provided an entertaining spectacle, as evidenced by the back and forth nature of the scoreline.